About Brian Garrison:
Hi, I'm Brian, a retired creative problem solver and applied scientist. I’m from a large family of artists. I thought there was something wrong with me, until I understood that my artistic medium is words and errata…
Errata? Are you one of those writers?
No, not at all. My stories might get as bad as a PG-13 movie, but only for the ‘grownup’s stories.’ All my children’s books and even some of my grown up books are like G movies.
‘Errata’ is the word for errors in publications. It used to be they would add a page of corrections, the Errata as well as the Index or Table of Contents. I see my writing as art, just like the rest of my family makes.
Their paintings aren’t photo perfect… Their pottery isn’t corning ware perfect… Because they make art, not factory products. Paintings can be duplicated in factories, ie prints. Pottery can be duplicated in factories, ie molds. Likewise, my art can be (and is) duplicated in factories, ie published.
(I make hand written books, but those are expensive. I publish books to make them affordable and these days, I even make less expensive books, tele-published, ebooks right into your device.)
But I still see my work as art, as imperfect, with imperfections. AI can make ‘perfect’ English. I’m not AI. (I oppose AI, even in proofing art.)
There’s a good chance an ‘English Teacher’ has inspired you to be triggered by some errors. (OMG! Theirs a gramer err! Your a terrible arthur!) I’m sorry that happened to you, too. I like to imagine what the world would be like if painters were shunned for their errors. Oh wait, they were. Monet, van Gogh, etc… (I’m not them, but neither are a lot of good artists, in my family.)
It’s clear that people (committees and AI) can write error free stories that are still bad. It’s my belief, that people (and maybe AI) can write stories that are good, even with errors. (Like Shakespeare did. I’m no Shakespeare, but I’m working on it.)
About GarrisonSiFi:
I write science fiction that I would call optimistic, hard, and moderately cozy. I write what I would like to read. I hope you will like it, too.
Optimistic Fiction…
When I was a kid, grownups talked about how the world was going to be destroyed in a nuclear war. It wasn’t. When I became a grown up, people still talked about how the world was going to end, soon. It didn’t. Based on most of the writing today, authors believe the world will end in dystopia, soon. I disagree. I write what I want to read, and I don’t want to read that dark… poop.
I think the world will survive. Sure, the oil will run out sooner or later. (We’re burning it faster than geology can make it.) Sure, the ocean will rise. (They rise, they fall.) Earth continues. People and “life will find a way.” So, I like to write ‘optimistic’ stories about the future.
Hard Science…
“The shields are failing!” “Reverse the polarity!” “Yay, we’re saved!”
Yeah, that kind of science doesn’t work for me. I warn you. Do not reverse the polarity in your car. I don’t know what it will do, but ‘save you’ is not what I predict.
So, likewise, I want to read science fiction stories that are more science than fantasy.
When Heinlein wrote Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), it seemed obvious to him that we would have flying cars in the future. Nope, not yet.
He also predicted that future manned Mars missions would send film cameras. (For you young people, cameras couldn’t be phones. They didn’t even need batteries. Film was plastic, coated with light sensitive chemicals, that had to be ‘developed’ to make ‘negatives’ so paper, with other light sensitive chemicals, could be ‘developed’ to make pictures.) He predicted ships would bring the film back to Earth for developing and printing. Now, at the time, we had TV, but he still predicted a future need for film photography. Nope, missed that one the other way.
So, will my predictions of our future, hard science be real? Not likely. But at least I try to not make it fantasy science.
Moderately Cozy…
There’s a range of anti-cozy to extreme cozy. On the anti-cozy side are stories about good guys killing a lot of people, to stop bad guys from killing a lot of people. On the extreme-cozy side are stories about friends sitting around a coffee shop telling stories about nothing.
I try to be in the middle. No hero is saving the world from a super villain’s apocalypse now. But there is adventure, conflict, action, and sometimes sitting in a coffee shop, enjoying good company.
Honestly, I love Pride and Prejudice (Austen, 1813), no murder, no save the world, but plenty of drama. I aspire to write such ‘cozy’ stories.